Bail way train indicator



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. W AKIN.

- RAILWAY TRAIN INDIGATOR.

No. 331,859. Patented Dec. 8, 1885.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

W. AKIN.

RAILWAY TRAIN INDICATOR.

No. 331,859. Patented Dec. 8, 1885.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEG VVILLlAM AKIN, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

RAILWAY-TRAIN INDICATOR.

@IECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 331,859, dated December 8,1885.

Application filed Novembtr 7, 1884. Serial No. 147,325.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, \VILLIAM AKIN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Railway-Train Indicators; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, on two sheets, which form a part of this specification.

This invent-ion relates to an improvement in train-indicators, or apparatus to be used at railway-stations for the purpose of indicating the departure of trains for the everal places along the line of the road; and the object of the invention is to construct a trainindicator in such a manner that it can readily and easily be operated without opening the case, to show the time of departure of a train and the several stations at which such train will stop, the construction being such that it can be set to show these particulars by means of easy and quickly-made adjustments, and so that the apparatus cannot easily be changed or tan1- pered with by any one not duly authorized to make the changes.

The invention consists, as to its main features, in a train-indicator having a series of sheets containing the names of the stations wound upon and depending from a rotating drum within a suitable case, and a clock dial and hands attached to the front door of the case, together with mechanism, hereinafter described, whereby the drum can be operated to bring the desired sheet into view and the indexes or hands on the dial can be set to in dicate the time at which the next train stopping at said stations will depart, both of said adjustments being made by simply turning a key, similar in construction to a clock-key, on the outside of the case; and the invention further consists in certain novel constructions and combinations of parts for effecting these purposes, all of which are hereinafter particularly set forth and described.

In the accompanying drawings, on Sheet No.1, Figure 1. is a front elevation of my improved train-indicator with the front cover or door closed, and Fig. 2 is a similar view with the door opened back. On Sheet No. 2, Figs. 3 to 8, inclusive, are details on a larger scale, which are hereinafter particularly described.

(X0 model.)

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the several figures.

A represents the outer case, which may be of suitable form and dimensions. The front cover or door of the case is provided with a glass or transparent plate, a, 011 its lower portion, the upper portion, I), being opaque.

B represents one of a series of sheets, upon each of which are printed or marked the names of the stations or places at which any particular train will make stoppages. These sheets may be of paper or calico, or other suitable material, and each is secured at its upper edge to a drum or cylinder, 0, and wound upon the same, the drum being rotated, as hereinafter described, so that any particular sheet may, by rotating the drum, be dropped in front of the same, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the names of the places marked thereon be seen through the plate a. Each of the trains starting from the station in which the indicator is used is represented by one of said sheets having the stopping-places named thereon. The

sheets are attached to the drum at regular in tervals, in the consecutive order in which the trains represented thereby depart. The drum 0 is fixed upon a shaft, 0, one end of which has a bearing in an adjustable bracket, D,

attached to one side of the case A, and near the other end of said shaft 0 is secured thereon a disk, cl, having a pin, (1, fixed thereon near its periphery and projecting from its face, which said pin enters a corresponding slot in a similar disk, 0, which is fixed upon another shaft, f, that carries a ratchet-wheel, E, hereinafter described, and the opposite or last-mentioned end of the shaft 0 has a hear ing in a slot, f, Fig. 4:, formed in the end of the shaft f. By this means the drum can be taken out and replaced, when desired, by disengaging the pin (2 from the slot in the disk 6, the bracket D being adjustable, so as to permit the drum 0 and its shaft being moved longitudinally. Said bracket D may be of any suitable construction to admit of this longitudinal movement of the drum. The ratchetwheel E is fixed upon the shaft f, and the number of its teeth is equal to or larger than the number of sheets B that are being used on the drum.

By means of the construction above described the ratchet E and drum 0 move correspondingly, an d consequently any particular sheet B may be displayed by turning said ratchet-wheel. The ratchet-wheel E has two sets of teeth set in opposite directionsone set, Z, on one side and the other set, Z, on the other side thereof.

The mechanism for operating the drum 0 and ratchet-wheel E is most clearly shown in Fig. 3, which is a side elevation, Fig. 4, which is an end elevation, and Fig. 5, which is an elevation of the rear end of the same. A lo Vcr, F, is fitted, by a loose sleeve, h, upon the shaftf, and to the outer end of said lever F is secured a rod, 1, the lower end of which is attached to the free end of another lever, G, which is fixed upon a shaft, j, having bearings in any suitable support, 111, within the lower end of the case A. The end of the shaftj is squared and projects outside of the case, so that the levers can be operated and the drum rotated by means of a suitable key, I, fitted and applied to the end of shaft j.

Pivoted on one side of the lever F is a pawl, g, which engages with the teeth Z, so that when said lever is depressed the ratchet-wheel is turned the space of one tooth, and is then immediately stopped by a pawl, m, attached to a sleeve, K, which is fitted to oscillate on a transverse shaft, L, and to engage the teeth Z, so that one tooth only can be taken at each descent of the lever F. The rear end of the lever F is beveled, and its beveled end a eugages a bent lever, I, attached to the sleeve K, so that whenever said lever F is depressed the pawl m is disengaged from the teeth Z and permits the ratchet to turn. A spring, 0, tends to keep the lever l in contact with the end of the lever F, and causes the pawl m to engage the teeth Z as soon as F begins to rise. A dog, N, holds the ratchet from moving in the opposite direction, and thus, by thejoint action of the lever F and pa-wls g, m, and N, the

ratchct-wheel E cannot be moved more than the space of one tooth at each descent of the lever F, and if the number of each set of teeth on the ratchet is equal to the number of sheets B on the drum, :1 separate sheet will be thrown over the top of the drum and displayed at each descent of the lever F.

Fig. 6 is a side View of the disk 0. This disk is provided with a slot, 6, to receive the pin (1, as above mentioned.

Fig. 7 represents a plan view of the mechanism for operating the indexes or hands to show the time of departure of a train, and Fig. 8 is a side view of said mechanism.

0 is a disk located immediately behind and parallel with the dial-plate M. This disk has printed upon its face the words and letters A. M., P. M., Noon, Midnight, or oth er characters, to designate the part of the day which is intended to be indicated by the figure on the dial to which the hands are set. The disk 0 is concentric with the dial-plate, and the words or characters are arranged to show through an openingymiin the dial. The dial and hands may be those of an ordinary clock; but the clock-movement is not used,ex-

ating the disk and the hands.

cepting that portion thereof by which the relative movements of the hourhand 7t and minute-hand 7c are determined.

The mechanism for rotating the disk 0 is as follows: A bevel-wheel, q,is attached (conceit trically) to the back ofthe disk,which meshes with another bevel-wheel, t, fixed upon the upper end of a rod or shalt, y, having suitable bearings, and the end of said shaft 3/ projects slightly beyond the outer case, and is adapted to be turned by means of a key, I, applied thereto. A suitable plate, 1%, attached to the inside of the frame b of the door, supports the dial M and the mechanism for opcr- The minutehand 10 is fixed upon the central sl1aft,p, and upon this shaft is a bevel gear-wheel, s, which meshes with another bevel gear-wheel, s, on a horizontal shalt, p running at right angles to the shaft p, and carrying a bevel gearwheel, 8', at its opposite end, which meshes with a fourth gearqvlieel, s", fixed upon the upper end of a vertical shaft or rod, or, which latter extends downward to nearly the bottom of the door, and is squared at its lower end to adapt it to be turned by a key inserted through a slot in the bottom of the case A, as shown in Fig. 1. The minute-hand is thus rotated directly through the medium of the bevelgears. The hour hand 7; is fixed upon a loose sleeve, which is fitted to turn upon the shaft 1;, and is geared by wheels and pinions v to make one revolution to twelve revolutions of the shaft 1) and minute-hand, so that by turning the shaft 00, as above mentioned, the two hands will be moved the proper relative speeds. The mechanism for effecting this relative movement of the hands being similar to that used on an ordinary clock, further description is deemed unnecessary.

Suitable brackets, w, are provided to form bearings for the several shafts or rods 1)", y, and x.

To provide for cases in which one or more stations are to be temporarily taken off the list of stoppingplaces for a certain train, I construct the sheets 13 as shown on Sheet No. l. Straps 1 are attached to the face of the sheet, near to and parallel with its edges, which said strips are attached to the body of the sheet by small rivets 2, or other suitable means, in such manner as to form loops 8, to receive cards or tin plates at, containing the names of the stations. By this means any one of the names may be withdrawn without disarrang ing or disturbing the other names or rendering it necessary to detach the particular sheet from the drum.

From the above description it will be seen that the movements of the drum to change the sheets, and also those ofthc hands and disk,are all made from the outside of the case, and that all may be made by using one key only, (made to fit to all the shafts,) and that consequently the case may be kept locked at all times, except when it becomes necessary to change the sheets upon the adoption of a new time-table.

' \Vhat I claim as my invention is 1. A station trainindicator composed of a closed case, A, a rotating drum, 0, carrying a number of sheets, B, each having marked thereon the stations at which atrain will stop, a clock-dial, M, and provided with an opening, m", coinciding with characters marked on a rotating disk, 0, located behind and parallel with said dial, hands k k, and mechanism, as described, for operating the several parts by means of a key, I, the whole constructed substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination of the drum G, carrying the printed sheets 13, the levers F and G, and rod z, the double ratchet-wheel E, pawls g and m, and bent lever I, the whole constructed as shown and described.

3. The combination, with the dial M, disk 0, and hour and minute hands, of the gearing 2;, rod 12 bevel gear-wheels s s s 8 and rod 00, the latter adapted to be operated by asuitable key from the bottom of the case, as shown and described.

4. In combination with the dial M, having opening of, the disk 0, having characters printed thereon, as de :cribed, to show through said opening, the bevel-gears, gear-wheel q, attached concentrically to said disk, and gearwheel t, attached to a rod, y, adapted to be operated by a key, I, as set forth.

\VILLIAM AKIN. Witnesses:

M. H. TOPPING, JOHN S. THORNTON. 

